The bad news; The two cheap Transcend 8GB cards I ordered before Christmas arrived today and, in a nutshell, they don't work with my GX-20. More often than not, especially in burst mode, the images appear in the camera's thumbnail view as question marks and I get the message "The camera cannot display this image". Sometimes it says "The image has not been recorded".

Oddly, all the files are fine when viewed on a computer. I'll keep these cards for music and other less-demanding tasks and stick to Sandisk Extreme IIIs for the camera.

The good news: Many members seem to be on the lookout for a cost-effective solution to scanning negatives and slides. The Kodak P461 Print Scanner (bought from QVC after a few drinks) does a remarkably good job for about £90.

The negative strips are drawn into the device and scanned automatically. It takes about 40 seconds for a strip of four. The images are stored on an SD card, or you can hook the machine up to a computer. The stated resolution of 1,200 dpi doesn't seem much but the files produce 5x7in prints that look to me as good as the original Boots prints, after extrapolation and a little PP in a decent image editor. There are adapters for negatives and mounted slides.

The separate print scanning function, at 300 or 600 dpi, is a handy bonus, but it won't take anything larger than 6x4in, so I'll stick to my flatbed for this. I'm serious surprised and impressed with its negative scanning capabilities.

Al

A newspaper I worked for years ago used Yashica-Mats and the results were certainly the equal of the Rollei's. Always fancied picking one up for nostagic reasons. Thanks for reminding me, Hefty.

My favourite cameras have been:

1) Samsung GX-20
2) Samsung GX-10
3) Nikon F80
4) Minolta XK)
5) Minolta SRT-101
6) Pentax MZ-M
7) Pentax P30t
Mamiya Press Deluxe
9) Pentax S1a
10) Samsung NV5

Al (Why there's a smilie where number 8 should be is a mystery)

Interesting item on Radio 4 the other day about why town clocks generally use IIII instead of IV for 4. According the the "expert" they interviewed, the Romans were happy to use either and they appear equally frequently on ancient carvings. The first chaps to make clock faces -- much later -- chose the IIII option. Well, I thought it was quite interesting.

Al

Hope, British Columbia, is the place for chainsaw sculptures link. It's also where they filmed the first Rambo movie -- probably because it was the only town they were allowed to blow up/burn down.

Al

Exellent for sandwiches, too. Add some American mustard and mayonnaise and you're in for a gastronomic treat.

Al

Three of the sharpest gig photos we've seen on here (at least they are on my netbook screen). Well done. Number one has a lot going for it -- his arm gesture is nicely reinforced by the flag or whatever it is and the guy on the left adds some depth. You could probably lose the chap on right. The other two capture the moment too. You obviously have a talent for these things.

Al

I've been planning to sell my SMC-A Pentax 28mm f2.8 for a while but, typically, haven't got around to it. Could be just what you're looking for. It's in as close to mint condition as you can get, optically and mechanically, and comes with original front cap, new rear cap and pouch. I don't really know what it's worth but eBay prices seem quite high. How does £60 plus postage sound? It was a good performer on film but the focal length doesn't fit my needs with digital. Send me a PM if you're interested.

Cheers

Al

That's why a corner of my living room is taken up with a stack of "proper" hi-fi components hooked up to good speakers. Can't understand why I never use them

Audiophile Al

A bit off-topic, but I've taken to buying all my music as MP3 downloads. Played through a decent system and a good pair of speakers, the quality is as good as any CD, to my tin ear. Plus you can distribute the tunes to most pieces of modern technolgy -- MP3 players, computers, smart phones etc.

Having said that, I'm too embarrassed to use my MP3 player in public and netbook speakers are useless. That leaves a relatively cheap Aldi "multi-media player" coupled with good speakers as my main music centre. A 16MB flash drive holds many albums. I see Amazon have a Graceland download for £7.49, so there's a price benefit. Another advantage becomes clear if you're feeling tearily nostalgic after a few glasses of your favourite poison. You can be playing that half-remembered classic from your youth within minutes.

Al (just about to crank up Warren Zevon)

Photopaper Direct has a good range at a low price. link I haven't produced my own cards for a few years but their stock used to give brilliant results. The important thing is to ensure the cards are printable on both sides. Some scored card stock isn't, bizarre as that might seem. I used glossy/matt cards similar to the product in the link and they certainly looked as good as commercial cards.

Al